All residents and staffers at Heartis Arlington will get tested, according to Friday’s statement.

Two seniors at an assisted living facility in Arlington have tested positive for the novel coronavirus, officials there announced Friday.

The Heartis Arlington residents are currently being quarantined at Medical City Arlington and on average are 85 years old, said Tami Cumings, vice president of senior living for Caddis Healthcare Real Estate, which owns the facility.

All 80 residents, whose ages range from 70 to 100, and 75 staffers at the private senior living center will be tested for the virus, according to Friday’s news release from Frontier Management, the facility’s operator.

All residents are currently being isolated in their rooms, officials said. Kathy Swann, vice president of sales for Frontier Management, said staffers are checking residents’ temperatures daily and disinfecting all communal areas twice a day. Personal protective equipment is also being used by staffers, she said.

The facility has trained staff on detecting symptoms and has followed protocols established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, officials said.

Staff learned of one positive case from a family member six days after the resident was transferred for testing, according to Frontier Management. A “significant number” of residents are part of the facility’s memory care population, which means patients may have difficulty remembering their diagnosis, Frontier Management said.

Hospitals aren’t allowed to tell senior living centers of a positive coronavirus diagnosis due to HIPAA restrictions, said Jason Signor, chief executive officer and partner for Caddis Healthcare Real Estate. Signor said that can mean a delay in communication that could put at risk the entire senior living community.

It’s likely more cases could surface at Heartis Arlington, according to the news release. No other residents or staffers have shown symptoms yet, officials said.

Signor said officials alerted the Arlington Health Department as soon as they learned of the positive cases. Health officials allowed testing for all residents and staffers in the community.

“We thought it was the best thing to happen for all of our staff members and all of our residents,” Signor said Friday.

Both residents who tested positive first had fevers before they were transferred to the hospital, Swann said. She said they dined together and didn’t have any underlying health conditions.

Officials said they don’t know how the first resident, who was transferred to the hospital March 18, contracted the virus. Swann said the facility has had limited visitation for more than two weeks.

All staffers had gotten tested as of Friday, Swann said. Residents will also be tested over the next several days.

Hayat Norimine, City Hall reporter. Hayat grew up in Eastern Washington on the border of Idaho and now lives in southeast Dallas with her family. She previously covered three other city halls, state politics and congressional races for Seattle Met magazine. She loves long hikes in the mountains and taking late-night phone calls about her stories.